1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for determining driving concentration of a driver during driving, and more particularly, to a method and system for determining driving concentration based on vehicle driving status information, which analyzes driving concentration of a driver based on a variation in a steering wheel angle and vehicle driving status information acquired through a front camera sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an increase in the use of automobiles which have become necessities in modern society, the occurrence of traffic accidents has also increased rapidly. Traffic accidents can occur for many different reasons, among them being driver negligence and unexpected risks due to the road conditions. Among these factors, a couple of the most common causes are speeding or drowsiness. These conditions can cause serious accidents leading to personal injury or even death.
A study of 2.5 million traffic accidents occurring within one year by a national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) shows 25% to 56% of accidents are caused by a driver's careless driving. The three main factors causing this careless driving are sight negligence, mental concentration negligence, and drowsiness.
In an effort to solve the above problem, major automobile manufacturers have continued to develop various new systems for assisting driver's in safe vehicular operation and apply these new systems to the vehicles. Some manufactures have developed techniques which are able to determine when the driver is becoming drowsy by sensing a driver's reactions and movement using a camera or by monitoring the driver's pulse through a sensor.
When using the above described camera method, the camera photographs the driver's face via a camera installed inside a vehicle, processes the photo and analyzes the photo to recognize drooping and blinking patterns of the driver's eyelids and movement of the driver's pupils, and determines whether the driver is becoming drowsy based on the recognized result. In the pulse monitoring technique, the driver's pulse is used to determine whether the driver is becoming drowsy based on the reduction in the driver's pulse which often reduces as people fall asleep.
However, these previous techniques require very complicated and complex components such as the sensors and processors for detecting the driver's pulse rate and performing the analysis algorithm thereof or a camera for capturing the movement of pupils, hardware for processing the photographed images, and analysis algorithms thereof, are required. In addition, even when these components are included, only abnormal driving due to drowsy driving can be detected. Thus, the systems are economically inefficient in comparison with its intended result compared to the cost required to implement the system.